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Character in Detective Fiction Eastern Kentucky University Encompass Honors Theses Student Scholarship Fall 2019 What Makes a Detective: Character in Detective Fiction Jordan Connelly Eastern Kentucky University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://encompass.eku.edu/honors_theses Recommended Citation Connelly, Jordan, "What Makes a Detective: Character in Detective Fiction" (2019). Honors Theses. 686. https://encompass.eku.edu/honors_theses/686 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at Encompass. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Encompass. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Eastern Kentucky University What Makes a Detective: Character in Detective Fiction Honors Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of HON 420 Fall 2019 By Jordan Connelly Mentor Dr. Mason Smith Department of English and Theatre 2 What Makes a Detective: Character in Detective Fiction Jordan Connelly Dr. Mason Smith Department of English and Theatre As a subgenre of formula fiction, detective fiction is often not considered serious or legitimate literature. Despite this, detective fiction continues to appear at the top of international bestselling lists. This thesis attempts to answer the question: Why is detective fiction so popular? In order to answer this question, this thesis explores the characteristics of both formula fiction and detective fiction in order to gain a better understanding of the genres, as well as the conclusions of numerous critics regarding what makes a good detective narrative. The ultimate conclusion is that the character of the detective determines whether a detective narrative is both popular and memorable. To prove this, I applied everything I have learned about this genre and character development to writing my own detective story, “A Novel Robbery.” In this thesis I analyze numerous passages from my short story in order to explain the techniques I utilized to develop my detective character and establish a connection between her and the reader. Finally, this thesis advocates and provides reasons for the legitimacy of detective fiction as a serious literary genre. Keywords: Thesis, Honors Thesis, Detective Fiction, Formula Fiction, Creative Writing, Character, Literature 3 Table of Contents Title Page……………………………………………………………………….…………………1 Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………2 Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………….3 Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………………………4 Thesis……………………………………………………………………………………………...5 Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………………...19 4 Acknowledgements Thank you to Dr. Smith, who provided so much help and guidance throughout the entirety of this project. The meetings we spent tossing plot ideas back and forth were invaluable. Thank you also to all of my loved ones for their endless love and support as I’ve gone on my Thesis journey. I never would have made it this far without you all. 5 The genre of detective fiction is a longstanding one that has spanned several cultures over just as many decades. Edgar Allan Poe is credited with giving life to the genre as we know it during the mid-nineteenth century with his short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” Since then readers the world over have been fascinated with crimes and the people who solve them. Yet for all of the popularity detective fiction has acquired over the years, just as many academics and critics have produced a myriad of criticisms for this genre in regard to its originality or ability to be considered “serious” literature. Before further analysis, it is important to define what formula fiction is, as well as detective fiction’s place within this wider categorization. Formula fiction—also commonly referred to as genre fiction—is just that: Fiction that is accompanied by set rules and expectations as to how the narrative is going to play out. Various pieces within the same genre may have similar patterns or tropes from story to story, depending on the nature of the genre itself. Therefore, before reading a piece of genre fiction, one may already have some idea of how the story is going to end. It is because of the commonalities between genre pieces that it is not taken particularly seriously in the literary community. Numerous critics believe that formula fiction—detective fiction included—lacks originality, or that it is essentially the same story being told over and over again with slightly different embellishments in between. However, there is something to be said for the benefits of writing within formula fiction, as John Cawelti expresses in his critical essay “The Study of Literary Formulas.” Rather than 6 agonizing over how the narrative should be structured, the author has a formula that he/she can follow that ultimately simplifies the writing process and brings books to anxious readers more efficiently. Cawelti also notes, “We tend to think of genres not simply as generalized descriptions of a number of individual works but as a set of artistic limitations and potentials” (123). Formula fiction should not be viewed as limiting the artistic choices of the author, then, but as a realm of writing rife with potential to turn traditional writing conventions on their heads. There is merit to genre fiction if one takes the time to consider it more closely. As a subgenre of formula fiction, detective fiction thus comes with its own sets of patterns and tropes. However, throughout my research I found that these characteristics can vary widely depending on the region in which the detective story was written. George Grella sums it up best in his essay “The Hard-Boiled Detective Novel.” Though the essay primarily focuses on American detective fiction, it is through characterizing this subgenre that we are able to gain an understanding for what English detective fiction must be like in turn. According to Grella, “Abandoning the static calm, the intricate puzzle, the ingenious deductions, they [American authors] wrote an entirely different detective story, characterized by rapid action, colloquial language, emotional impact, and the violence that pervades American fiction” (104). Therefore, it can be understood that English detective fiction is characterized by the presence of hierarchy, rationality, and order. In contrast, American detective fiction thrives on a disordered society where the law can be corrupt, and the narrative is meant to deliver an emotional impact. This means that readers from these respective regions will have different expectations going into their reading of either an English or an American detective novel. Regardless of the detective novel’s defining characteristics or culture of origin, readers continue to come back to this genre time and time again. This observation is what ultimately led 7 me to the question that guided my research: What is it about detective fiction that makes it so popular? If the works of this genre are merely the same plot arranged in slightly different ways, with the same patterns and tropes, why do readers continue to consume it at the rates they do? As to be expected, there are a number of differing views on this topic. For some readers of detective fiction, a strict view of what makes a good detective story is adopted. This is the case of English poet W.H. Auden, who wrote an essay on detective fiction entitled “The Guilty Vicarage: Notes on the Detective Story, By an Addict.” Auden was a reader who knew what he wanted. He had a precise image of where the setting should be, what the characters must be like, what must characterize the crime, and more. For example, regarding character, Auden believed “since the murderer…is the aesthetically defiant individual, his opponent, the detective, must be either the official representative of the ethical or the exceptional individual who is himself in a state of grace” (Auden 3). Much can be learned about Auden’s opinions on detective fiction in this statement. First, he believed that the crime in a detective story must be a murder, as is noted when he refers to the criminal as a “murderer.” The second is that the detective must fall into one of two narrow categories: either he must represent morality, or he must be the epitome of morality himself. I must note that I disagree with Auden’s narrow- minded view of detective fiction. It offers no room for experimentation or divergence within the genre. The setting does not have to be set in the English countryside (as all of American detective fiction has proven), nor must the crime necessarily be a murder. Nevertheless, this is Auden’s opinion of what it means to write a good detective story, and there are several others who likely share his sentiments. Others feel differently about what it is that makes a detective story “good” or “popular.” In her essay “A Taste for Murder: The Curious Case of Crime Fiction,” Rachel Franks does 8 much to disprove Auden’s limiting view of detective fiction and instead present her own insight on what makes this genre popular. Franks believes that readers continue to return to detective fiction because it often provides a satisfactory ending. She also argues that this is just one factor that sets detective fiction apart from works of literary canon. Everything is wrapped up tidily at the end of a detective novel; the wrongdoer is caught, and justice is dealt. Franks observes, “The subject matter of crime fiction does not easily facilitate fairy-tale finishes, yet, people continue to read the genre because, generally, the concluding chapter will show that justice, of some form, will be done” (2). In this case, detective fiction is reaffirming the reader’s preestablished notions of morality and what it means to be ethical, thus giving the reader a sense of security while reading. Despite the opinions presented by these two respected critics—as well as those by numerous other academics—there is one important feature of detective fiction I came across far more than any other.
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